Smooth Muscle Cells Flashcards
Characteristics of Smooth muscle cells
Spindle shaped, relatively small (about as long as a skeletal muscle is long)
Actin/myosin ratio in smooth muscle cells
Greater in smooth (10:1) vs skeletal (2:1)
What’s “missing” in smooth muscle cells?
Sarcomere, T-tubules, terminal cisternae, poorly developed SR. Lack hexagonal arrangement of actin/myosin
SR in smooth muscle
Still a Ca++ source, needs extracellular Ca++ source for contraction
Control of contraction in smooth muscle
Uses myosin-based control of contraction
Actin binding proteins of smooth muscle
Caldesmon and Calponin. not primary control proteins in smooth muscle
What is different about the troponin in smooth muscle?
No troponin -I to inhibit cross-bridge cycling
Polarity of myosin in smooth muscle?
Side-polar striated
Innervation of smooth muscle
Innervates by autonomic nervous system. No specialized nerve-muscle junction
Single unit smooth muscle organs
Unitary/visceral smooth muscle. Many gap junctions between cells. Behaves in syncytial manner. Sparse innervation.
Slow wave potentials
Spontaneous, graded oscillation in membrane potential that is rhythmical in nature, can lead to action potential
Plasticity
Slow stretch of single unit organs leads to lengthier of smooth muscle. Aka stress relaxation
Stretch induced contraction
Fast stretch cause depolarization and leads to contraction
Multi unit smooth muscles
Each cell acts relatively independent of other smooth muscle cells in the organ. More in specialized muscles (eye, bronchial muscle, GI sphincters). Less gap junctions. Tend to have higher innervation ratios.
High progesterone’ effect on smooth muscle
Reduces number of gap junctions in myometrial smooth muscle during pregnancy. Causes myometrium to behave more like non-innervated smooth muscle